The Memory Box
by CJ.xox.Dancerella
Summary: Troy. Gabriella. A box of memories. A rather long Troyella oneshot following the pair as they reflect on the memories they have made together. USERNAME CHANGE: Formerly DancingSweetheart.


**TITLE: **The Memory Box

**AUTHOR: **Charli (CJ.xox.Dancerella – formerly DancingSweetheart)

**RATING:** K

**FEEDBACK:** Is as sweet as candy!!! But constructive criticism is also good!

**DISCLAIMER:** Don't own it. Boo Hiss.

**PAIRING/CHARACTERS:** Troyella

**SUMMARY: **Troy. Gabriella. A box full of memories.

**I thought I'd write this one to kill some time and combat boredom...well it ended up frustrating me and taking me two days to write because I knew I couldn't write ALL of my memory ideas else you'd all lose ten years of your life trying to read them**** (as it is you're already going to lose seven...) ****...but then I couldn't decide which ones to cull and which to keep...I hope you like what I have written :) Please read and review**** (although it is so long for a one-shot that if you are still awake and or alive at the end to review, you deserve a medal of achievement)!**

**Love, Charli ****xox**

**_The Memory Box_**

_Grunt..._

_Groan..._

_OOOMPH!_

"Gabriella? Honey, are you ok?" a concerned mother's voice wafted up the stairs of a double-story Albuquerque home.

In her bedroom, a dark-haired teen sighed, pushing her hair out of her face and setting the plastic milk crate she had been standing on moments earlier, back in its upright position.

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine," she called out, brushing her jeans off, testing the top of the crate with her foot before stepping back onto it.

"What are you doing up there anyway?" Maria Montez questioned.

Gabriella jumped off the crate and stuck her head out of her bedroom door. Her mother peered up at her from the bottom step.

"Nothing Mom – just looking for something," she grinned at her mother before re-entering her room and returning to the crate-top.

Reaching high above her height, into the top section of her closet, Gabriella tilted her head to the side as she felt around the space, her hand brushing against a pile of books, an old baseball cap, a half-knitted scarf she had been meaning to take down and finish, an empty fish tank and pump she had brought with her from San Diego but never got around to setting up, and what felt somewhat like a broken hairbrush.

"Argh! Where _are_ you?" Gabriella said aloud, frustrated. Balancing on one leg, she reached higher, and leaned further into the depths of her closet.

She was so engrossed in her search that she failed to notice the sandy-haired boy quietly enter her bedroom.

Troy Bolton stood silently, arms folded over his chest, watching the girl in front of him struggle atop a milk crate. Amusement danced across his face and his deep blue eyes twinkled mischievously as he decided to make his presence known.

"DON'T FALL!" he yelled suddenly, digging his fingers into Gabriella's sides as he did so.

"TROY BOLTON!" Gabriella screamed as she lost her balance, Troy catching her before she fell for the second time that morning. "Don't EVER scare me like that AGAIN!" she exclaimed, one hand firmly placed over her racing heart.

Troy set the petite girl down, unable to hide his grin.

"Not funny Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed, but she was soon smiling too, unable to keep up the cranky act.

"Hey it's not my fault if you were too busy climbing around in your closet to notice me," Troy informed her. "If I wasn't here to catch you, you might have broken an ankle..."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "It's YOUR fault I was up there in the first place!" she replied, poking him in the chest to emphasise her point.

Troy raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Gabriella nodded, before explaining herself. "I was looking for our box."

"Oooh!" Troy replied, climbing onto the crate himself. His height advantage over Gabriella made it much easier for him to see what he was doing, and within moments he had located the box and placed it on Gabriella's bed, looking decidedly pleased with himself. "There you go, Miss: one Troy-and-Gabriella box."

Gabriella grinned and jumped onto her bed, sitting cross-legged with the box in front of her, gesturing for Troy to join her, which he did – wrapping an arm around her shoulders and kissing her quickly on the cheek.

It was a warm Saturday morning. But it was more than just a Saturday.

It was one year, three months and seventeen days since Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton had met by chance – or fate as they preferred to think of it – on winter vacation.

One year, three months and ten days since chance – or fate – had brought them together for a second time, when Gabriella and her mother moved to Albuquerque and Gabriella had been enrolled at Troy's school - East High.

One year and eight days since the opening night curtain had risen on 'Twinkle Town', and Troy and Gabriella had changed the status quo of East High forever.

And, perhaps most memorably of all, it eleven months and twenty four days since Troy and Gabriella had _officially _become a couple.

Gabriella smiled fondly at Troy before turning her attention back to the box in front of them. Before their first _official_ date – eleven months and twenty nine days ago – Gabriella had found the large-ish red box in the back of her closet, whilst searching for the matching shoes to the dress she had chosen to wear that night.

When Gabriella arrived home from school five days later, after Troy had asked her the all important five word question – 'will you be my girlfriend?' - Gabriella stashed a sweet note he had written her during third period English, in the red box.

They had been together for three months, when Troy came across the box – which now contained several memoirs of their relationship - as he helped Gabriella to hide her mother's birthday present.

Gabriella had showed him the contents, and they had spent the afternoon reminiscing about the wonderful times they had spent together since they had met, in particular past three amazing months. Troy had suggested they continue to add to the box together, and from then on it was their official 'memory box'.

It had since been decorated with various items of significance to the pair – photos and stickers and other little bits and pieces, and it had become tradition for them to take the box out every once in a while and go through it together. Sometimes they did it for fun, sometimes because they were feeling down and needed something to pick them up. Sometimes they just had nothing better to do. But the memory box was something special that they shared, and neither would exchange the memories it contained for _anything_.

Gabriella smiled fondly at Troy before turning her attention back to the box in front of them.

"Whose turn is it to do the honours?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"You go," he nudged her arm gently and she opened the lid of the memory box, placing it behind them. Picking out a bright yellow junky plastic bracelet, Gabriella grinned and Troy groaned.

Taking the bracelet from her and turning it over and over in his hands, the pair began to laugh.

_**Flashback**_

_Troy and Gabriella walked hand in hand through the fairground, sharing an enormous cloud of cotton candy on a stick. Suddenly another young couple walked past them, the girl clutching a huge fluffy stuffed __dog._

_"Wow, Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed. "Look at the size of that! It's so cute!"_

_Troy smiled at her excitement as they walked along. Soon she spotted another couple, the female of the pair also proudly carrying an oversized stuffed toy. _

_"Where are all these toys coming from, Tr...OH LOOK!" Gabriella squealed as she spotted the sideshow game that was passing out the gigantic toys as prizes. "Let's have a go!"_

_Gabriella dragged Troy over to the stand. The man running the game explained that, to win, all they had to do was hit one of the coloured areas on the target, by throwing a small sticky ball at it. The colour you hit determined what prize you won._

_"Well my favourite girlfriend, stand back and watch me win you the stuffed toy of your choice," Troy grinned, puffing out his chest._

_Gabriella stood back, giggling as she watched Troy line up his first shot...which he missed. _

_"Just warming up..." he assured her, lining up his second shot...which he also missed. _

_Gabriella laughed. "Come on__ Mr Lunkhead Basketball Man!"_

_Troy raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to the target for his third and final shot. _

_"SUCCESS!" the carnival man shouted as the ball stuck to a green spot near the edge of the target. _

_Troy punched the air victoriously, and Gabriella jumped up and down, hugging him.__ The carnival man emerged from under the counter, passing a small plastic package to Troy._

_"Here you go, princess," he smirked, waving goodbye to a stunned Troy, and Gabriella who was hysterical with laughter. _

_"I guess green wasn't the colour to aim for," Troy lamented, handing Gabriella the plastic bracelet, as tears of laughter rolled down her cheeks._

_Gabriella clutched the bracelet to her heart dramatically. "I'll never part with it!"__she declared._

_**End Flashback**_

"It wasn't _that_ funny!" Troy exclaimed, as Gabriella clutched her stomach, gasping for air between bouts of laughter.

"The... (_gasp_) ... look... (_gasp_) ...on your... (_gasp_) ...face... (_gasp_) was PRICELESS!" she managed, before doubling over once more.

"Ok, ok – so I stink at carnival games," Troy grinned sheepishly as he reached into the memory box and pulled out an empty box of chicken noodle cup-a-soup. "Remind me again why we have a soup packet in our box?" he joked. He knew exactly why.

"Because it reminds me of my favourite nurse," Gabriella laughed.

_**Flashback**_

_"She's sleeping at the moment, but you can go on up and sit with her if you like," Maria smiled warmly at her daughter'__s boyfriend, whose face was full of concern._

_Gabriella had been sent home from school the previous day after she had fainted on her way to homeroom with Troy. She had been a little off colour prior, complaining that she thought she was coming down with the flu. After she fainted, Gabriella's doctor told her mom that she did indeed have a bad case of the flu, and was dehydrated – which was why she had fainted. Her mom had put her straight to bed, keeping her hydrated with plenty of water and juice._

_Troy closed Gabriella's door behind him and carefully climbed onto the bed beside her. He propped himself up on his elbow, laying on his side on top of her blankets and watching her sleep – her chest gently rising and falling. _

_Unable to help himself, Troy gently reached over and brushed a stray lock of hair from Gabriella's sleeping face. She stirred slightly at his touch._

_"Troy?" she murmured._

_"Yeah, it's just me, Brie. Shh, go back to sleep," he whispered soothingly, his thumb stroking her cheek softly._

_Gabriella cuddled herself close to him as she drifted back into a deep sleep._

_"I'm glad you're here..."_

_"I'm not going anywhere," Troy whispered into her ear, kissing her softly on the forehead._

_When he was certain Gabriella was fast asleep, Troy quietly snuck out of her room, and made his way into the kitchen where he began poking through the cupboards. _

_"You wouldn't happen to have any chicken noodle soup would you?" he asked Gabriella's mother, who nodded._

_"Second cupboard to your right, third shelf," she replied._

_"Thanks," Troy said. "Do you mind if I make something special for Gabby to eat?"_

_"Not at all," Maria smiled._

_An hour later Gabriella awoke to the sound of Troy's footsteps making their way up the stairs. She snuggled into her covers as her door creaked open, and the delicious smell of soup filled her room. Troy made his way over to her bed and sat down, placing the tray he was carrying down beside Gabriella, and __brushed his hand against her forehead._

_"Hmm, a little warm Miss Montez," he concluded. _

_Gabriella smiled weakly "And what do you prescribe, Doctor Bolton?"_

_Troy grinned. "Hmm, well I would say this nice big bowl of your favourite chicken noodle soup would do the trick...but there may be one other remedy that might just aid the recovery process..."_

_"And what would that be, Doctor Bolton?"_

_Troy didn't reply, he leaned forward and kissed Gabriella softly on the lips, before pulling back and pushing the tray of food towards her._

_"Now, eat up, or do I have to feed it to you?" _

_Gabriella looked thoughtful for a second, before cheekily picking up the spoon and passing it to Troy..._

_**End Flashback**_

"I still can't believe you fed me that _whole_ bowl of soup," Gabriella giggled, ruffling his hair affectionately. "You're the greatest nurse in the world." Troy laughed as she pulled his head towards her and planted a big, sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah, well – I hate seeing you sick, and you know that I can't say no to those big brown eyes of yours," he replied, shaking his head.

Gabriella cupped her chin in her hand, and put on a fake fan-girl voice. "Well, you know hunk...those baby blues of yours are preeetty dreamy too!"

Troy rolled his eyes and began to tickle her. Gabriella squealed as she wriggled and squirmed in his grasp.

"T...T...Troy! N...NO! T...TROY! S...ST...STOP!" she gasped, laughing so hard it hurt. After leaning down and kissing her quickly, Troy sat up leaving Gabriella lying on her back catching her breath.

"Ok, ok," she panted, sitting up. "Next!" she reached into the memory box and pulled out a photo. "Remember this day?" she asked, smiling sadly.

Troy held her close as he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

The picture had been taken by Gabriella's mother, unbeknownst to Gabriella and Troy. It wasn't until a few days afterwards, when Maria had left the photo on Gabriella's desk for her that she knew it even existed. Despite the circumstances surrounding the picture, Gabriella loved it – raw emotion and the complete, unadulterated adoration that Troy had for Gabriella oozed from the photo paper.

_**Flashback**_

_Troy ran up the Montez's staircase, panic causing his heart to pound in his chest. One minute he had been shooting hoops in his yard, the next he had Gabriella sobbing on the phone. She couldn't get the words __out;__ all he could gather was that she needed him – now.__He had left his basketball right where it lay, and bolted the four blocks to his girlfriend's house – never stopping to take a breath. _

_Now, as he carefully pushed open her bedroom door, his heart broke at the site in front of him. _

_"Oh Brie," he whispered, crossing the room and taking her in his arms. "Oh Brie, don't cry. Shh, don't cry," he soothed._

_"He's gone, Troy," Gabriella choked. "He's gone."_

_"What? Who's gone, Brie? What's happened?" Troy asked, confused._

_"My Dad," Gabriella replied, crying harder. "They just rang my mom. He had a heart attack and...__and__he__ just died, just like that...I didn't even get to say goodbye, Troy..."_

_Troy pulled Gabriella into him__ once more__, her face hidden in his chest, tears soaking into his shirt. She curled her legs up in his lap and he rocked her back and forth, burying his face in her dark curls, gently kissing her head every few moments._

_Neither noticed the flash of a camera as Maria Montez captured the bittersweet moment forever._

_**End Flashback**_

Troy continued to hold Gabriella close to his side as they looked at the photo, neither needing to say a word. Gabriella's parents had gone through an amicable separation when Gabriella was just eight years old. Unfortunately, both had allowed their careers to consume them, and eventually they just drifted apart. Gabriella and her father remained very close even after the divorce, and when she and her mother began to move around a lot, they had still made sure that Gabriella visited her father every time the opportunity arose, and they spoke on the phone once a week at the very least.

His sudden death had hit her hard. But Troy had been there for her as she struggled with her grief and he helped her to emerge from the storm as a stronger person. Not a day went by when she didn't miss her dad, but Gabriella had learnt the importance of cherishing each day and making the most of every moment.

Troy placed the photo on Gabriella's bed, and pulled what looked like two ordinary pieces of cardboard, back to back, out of the box. He carefully peeled the top piece of cardboard from its mate, and removed a dried, perfectly flattened rosebud from between the two.

Gabriella's eyes lit up as she took the pressed flower from Troy. "I think this one might be one of my favourites," she decided, inhaling the still-present scent of the rose.

Troy nodded his agreement. "Definitely one of the best nights of my life."

_**Flashback**_

_Troy paced nervously on the doorstep of his best friend's house. After months of flirting, yearning, and will-they/won't-they bets placed by their closest friends, Troy and Gabriella were finally going on a date._

_Not just a dinner-and-a-move-as-friends date. __Oooh no.__ They were going on a__ dinner-and-a-movie-as-a-_DATE_ date. And neither could have been more nervous._

_Both had spent the entire afternoon getting dressed and ready, and now that 6pm was here, Troy had just rung the doorbell, and Gabriella was staring at her reflection in her bedroom mirror, smoothing her dress anxiously. _

_Hearing the doorbell chime, she made her way down the stairs and, after checking her reflection in the entry hall mirror one last time, opened the front door._

_Troy quit his pacing and spun around when he heard the door open, inhaling sharply._

_"Wow! Gabby...you look...wow..." he stammered, and Gabriella smiled, twirling around on the spot._

_"Glad you like it,"__ she replied, blushing_

_Troy grinned, and then suddenly remembered why his left hand was behind his back. Bringing it to his front, he produced a single rose. "For you," he announced._

_Gabriella beamed, reaching up on her tip-toes to kiss Troy quickly on the cheek. "Thankyou – it's beautiful!" she ducked back inside to set the flower in a vase, before returning to Troy, who linked their arms as they walked towards his car. _

_"About time too," Maria Montez smiled to herself as she watched from the __kitchen window._

_The night had gone wonderfully, albeit too quickly for the liking of the two teens __who__ had thoroughly enjoyed each other's company as per usual. __It was now a quarter to midnight, and the pair were walking back up the path to Gabriella's front door, their way lit somewhat romantically by the light of the full moon._

_Troy reached down between them and __gently__ took Gabriella's hand, lacing their fingers together as they made their way up the stairs and onto the porch. __She smiled shyly as they came to a halt at the front door, and stood facing each other._

_"Well, uh...thanks for coming out with me tonight, Gabby...I had a really great time," Troy said._

_"Hey, don't go all soppy on me now - it's not like we haven't done dinner and the movies before now, is it?" Gabriella replied._

_"I know, it's just...well...you know what I..."_

_"Relax, Troy, I was joking," Gabriella giggled. "I had a really great time too." Troy let out a visible sigh of relief. "Thanks for everything," Gabriella fell silent as her eyes met Troy's, and, as corny as it sounds, the world around them seemed to slow._

_Both tilted their heads foreword in anticipation, until Troy couldn't bear it any longer. Their noses were almost touching, when he whispered "Can I kiss you now?"_

_"Mmm," was all Gabriella managed to murmur as their lips met for the very first __time._

_**End Flashback**_

"A single rosebud _and_ our first kiss," Gabriella giggled.

"The first of many," Troy grinned, taking the chance to kiss her again.

"What a great night," she mused, running a finger over the delicate pressed petals of the rosebud before setting it down with the other memories, and resting her head on Troy's shoulder.

Over the next hour, Troy and Gabriella continued to sift through the memory box – pulling out other photos, movie tickets, notes scribbled to each other, and much more, whilst laughing, crying, smiling and remembering. Before they knew it, only one item remained: a simple card.

Troy pulled the card out of the memory box. It was orange with a picture of a bright smiling sun on the front. He opened the card and quickly scanned the message inside. His lips curled into a smile as he kissed the top of Gabriella's head.

"You're such a sweetheart," he told her, as she curled into his side.

_**Flashback**_

_Troy lay on his bed, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. In his right hand he held a small rubber basketball, which he was tossing absentmindedly up and down. Suddenly he rolled sideways and threw the ball hard at the wall, a frustrated grunt escaping him as he did so._

_His parents were downstairs, arguing. They had always gotten on so well, but lately both had been under a lot of pressure and were taking their stresses out on each other. Although the logical side of him said that they were just going through a rough patch and would sort it out, deep down he was scared that his parents' marriage would be the next to wind up as a divorce statistic._

_He had shared his fears with his girlfriend the previous day. Gabriella had sat and listened as he revealed his innermost thoughts and fears, and had been quick to engulf him in a __comforting__ hug when tears threatened. _

_She had dropped by quickly that morning to check that he was ok, but had been unable to hang around as she __had a dentist appointment. As Troy watched the small orange ball rebound against the wall, it hit his dresser and knocked off an envelope he hadn't noticed sitting there. Climbing off his bed, Troy picked it up and noticed his name scrawled across the front in what he recognised as Gabriella's tidy handwriting. _

_Turning it over, Troy ripped open the back of the envelope, and pulled out a bright orange card, with a rather cheerful looking sun smiling on the front. Creasing hi__s forehead, he opened the card and his face was soon graced with a smile. There were only eight words written inside the card, but to Troy...they meant the world._

"No matter what, I'm always here.

Love, Gabriella xx"

_**End Flashback**_

"Still applies, y'know," Gabriella stated matter-of-factly, looking Troy in the eye.

"What does?" Troy asked, his forehead creasing slightly.

"What it says in the card."

Troy grinned and leaned down, kissing her on the lips. "You're a cute-head. Anyway, vice-versa too. No matter what, right?"

The pair linked their pinkie fingers together and squeezed them tight, sealing the promise.

Curled contentedly around each other, Troy and Gabriella observed the many, many objects from the memory box that were now littering her quilt cover.

"We've had some good times together, haven't we Troy?" she reflected.

Troy nodded. "Good times, great times...wonderful times."

Gabriella nodded silently, her gaze sweeping over the memoirs of their relationship once more. "So many memories," she whispered. "I can't wait to keep adding to them."

"We'll need a bigger box before long," Troy noted. "Then one day, when we're old and grey, we won't have a memory box anymore, we'll need a memory _room_!"

Gabriella laughed. "I can see it now, our very own memory-granny flat on our front lawn!"

"With a white picket fence..." Troy added.

"And don't forget the two kids and the pet dog," Gabriella joked as Troy pulled her to him, hugging her tight.

"I love you, Gabriella Montez," Troy said out of the blue.

Gabriella shifted in Troy's arms so that she could see his face, a wide smile illuminating her pretty features.

"I love you too, Troy Bolton," she replied, hugging him again as they laughed happily before moving apart and beginning to return their memories, one by one, to the memory box.

As Troy returned it to the very top section of Gabriella's closet, he knew that it wasn't the last time they would be sorting through it.

After all, it was a memory box - memories last a life time.

And for Troy and Gabriella. Well. Their memories were only just beginning to be made.

**_Well, there you have it! What did you think? Hope you enjoyed it :) Thanks for reading, and once again, congratulations if you made it to the end without nodding off!_**

****

****

**_xox _**


End file.
